New risk on the block: Bring your own cloud

The next big thing in the consumerization of IT is fast bearing down on network administrators: bring your own cloud. Employees have disrupted the enterprise by bringing their own mobile devices onto the network, and now the use of consumer cloud accounts such as iCloud, Evernote and Dropbox to store and access business data threaten to do the same.

A recent survey on shadow IT by Nasuni revealed that one out of five business users surveyed said they use the consumer file-sync-and-share system with work documents. On the bright side for agencies, among the industries surveyed, government and non-profits are the least likely to use file-sharing services outside the corporate enterprise.

Still, the security risks of government information being stored in personal clouds has been well documented. They carry an additional risk because copies of documents may reside on the agency network, the employees’ phone and his home computer, the security of which is beyond agency IT managers, according to a recent ZDNet column.

IT managers can protect the network by restricting access to cloud sites with enterprise filtering, banning the app from network and writing policies that forbid the use of personal clouds. As an alternative, some IT departments are working to secure employees’ personal cloud storage accounts. According to a recent article by Cisco’s Kristi Essick, several alternatives are surfacing:

Over a career spent in tech media, Miller has worked in editorial, print production and online, starting on the copy desk at IDG’s ComputerWorld, moving to print production for Federal Computer Week and later helping launch websites and email newsletter delivery for FCW. After a turn at Virginia’s Center for Innovative Technology, where she worked to promote technology-based economic development, she rejoined what was to become 1105 Media in 2004, eventually managing content and production for all the company's government-focused websites. Miller shifted back to editorial in 2012, when she began working with GCN.

Miller has a BA from West Chester University and an MA in English from the University of Delaware.

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Reader Comments

Fri, May 24, 2013
Bruce

Interesting article.. i came across another interesting piece on cloud computing and cloud security in particular that readers might find interesting @ 'Cloud risks Striking a balance between savings and security ' it talks a great deal about securing the cloud and importance of cloud security http://bit.ly/ZFPu1l I

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